Married businesswoman dumped twins because she'd had an affair

A businesswoman dumped her new-born twins in a cardboard box in a hospital car park because they were the product of an affair, it was revealed.

The married 44 year old, who has three grown-up sons, said she could never reveal the truth of the twins' birth to her family because of the devastation it would cause.

"It was a terrible thing I did but I was desperate," she said. "I was in a complete panic at the time and just did what I thought I had to do. I left them as near to the maternity unit as possible.

"I would not have been able to live with myself if anything had happened to the twins - it does not bear thinking about."

The twins, born one month premature, were left in the car park of Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham on December 6 last year.

They survived near-freezing temperatures before they were found by an elderly couple four hours later.

The babies, born a month premature had to be put in incubators because they were so cold and were named Holly and Joseph by nurses.

Police appeals for the mother to come forward came to nothing. Officers assumed she was likely to be a troubled teenager.

The mother was traced only after she confessed her secret to a former boyfriend, who contacted social services. West Midlands Police handed her a caution last month after DNA analysis proved she was the mother.

The twins' father was also contacted by officers, who were satisfied he played no part in the abandonment.

The woman, who said her weight had 'yo-yoed' all her life, admitted she became pregnant during a two month affair with an ex-school friend at Easter last year.

She said she did not realise she was pregnant until it was too late for a termination and 'buried her head in the sand' until she went into labour.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, the woman, who has not been named and lives in a suburban semi-detached house in Birmingham, described how she gave birth in the bathroom at home on December 5 while her husband was away working.

She then wrapped them in blankets and put them in a supermarket cardboard box which she left outside the hospital's maternity unit when they were just six hours old.

Joseph weighed 6lb 13oz and Holly just 4lb 5oz.

She had planned at one point to take the babies in to the maternity wing, explain to nurses what had happened and be admitted with her newborns.

But she lost her nerve when she arrived at the hospital some time before 3am on December 6.

After dumping them in the car park, she said she made an anonymous call to the Samaritans confessing what she had done but the hospital was not notified.

She then tried to carry on her life as if nothing had happened, despite being in an emotional state and suffering from a severe bladder infection caused by the pregnancy.

From media coverage of the twins' plight, she discovered that their mum must have had an infection, so she took a course of leftover antibiotics from her medicine chest.

She then rang her work to say she was ill and took a week off, staying in bed and telling her family she had a poorly stomach. She was back at her job ten days after the birth.

Her husband, children, friends and work colleagues still have no idea what she did.

"I can never reveal that it was me because it would just be too devastating for my family and I just could not cope. They don't know what happened and must never find out," she said.

The woman, who continues to work in her £25,000 a year management job, continued to follow the twins' progress through the media following their discovery.

She has since had a meeting with social services and asked to see the babies. But she does not know whether she will ever be allowed to, as they are now wards of court and in care.

"Now I’m just coping as best I can and getting on with my life," she said.

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: "The twins are happy and healthy and have been subject to court proceedings. The local authority has made plans for them to be placed together. Therefore we cannot give any more details, as further publicity is not in their best interest."